I am very surprised that nobody has mentioned this yet, but there are many people on FF that have SE's (no steering limiter) and have 18" rims, some that are even wider than stock with no rub reported. I think there is a general consensus that ford included the steering limiters to mitigate a very rare possibility of rubbing. IE, bottom out suspension at full lock.

If rubbing is the only thing holding you back from getting 18's, don't let that stop you.

Also, on a side note. The steering limiters are a part of the steering rack itself, as there are different PN's for the steering racks of SE vs. Ti. There are plastic or metal collars on the inside of that rack that limit the turning.

Also, small tidbit... the 17"s will net you a much nicer turning radius, as the 18"s require a steering limiter to avoid rubbing.

I went from 17's to 18's on my car and to my knowledge I don't have any limiters. My setup doesn't rub at all either, even if the wheels are turned full lock. Might have something to do with the offset though, I'm not entirely sure.

All the cars have limiters of some sort. They work as a soft stop, otherwise the steering would make a clanging sound at full lock.

My research bears this out. There are plastic "c" rings over the end of the steering rack by the tie rod ends, the Titanium Handling Package just has thicker ones restricting it more. It isn't just a removal or addition, it's a "swap".

I don't know how you do this. Half the time they're hidden because it's dark and the other half they're filled with water or you don't see them because you're shoulder checking or changing lanes. Slowing down isn't always an option. Especially, with the tailgating drivers we have in Ottawa.

i have to agree,, the holes are often hidden... a couple years back in my '01 focus w/ tsw 16"wheels and 50 series tires i smacked into a pothole on A15 in quebec in the dark.. the hole was small but deep and filled w/ water so it blended in w/ the wet blacktop...I was goin about 75mph and wham! bent the hell out of the rim but thankfully zero tire damage.... I had to head all the way home at 40mph going thumpa thumpa, thumpa....lol... and had to replace the now flat faced wheel as it was not repairable....I will give kudos to both firestone as the tire suffered no damage and to TSW which makes very strong wheels as they have to adhere to european safety standards for wheels, which many chinese manufactured wheels do now meet.

My SE came with 16 inch wheels and I've been very happy with them. Granted they do look a bit small, but the comfort is excellent and the handling isn't bad at all. Especially since I swapped the dreadful stock SFE Contis for a set of V-rated Michelins and installed the Steeda rear swaybar. Oh and yes, 16 inch wheels weigh less and are therefore faster.

I went from 17's to 18's on my car and to my knowledge I don't have any limiters. My setup doesn't rub at all either, even if the wheels are turned full lock. Might have something to do with the offset though, I'm not entirely sure.

Yes, your TD wheels have an offset that pushes your wheel farther outboard. That mitigates the need for the limiters.

I haven't heard of anyone swapping to OEM 18's and having an incidence of rub. I'm sure that the possibility is there, it is just most likely on an engineers drawing that shows the full range of motion of the components. Being at full lock and full compression would seem to be an all around bad situation, with or without limiters.

Another benefit to having 17's (besides comfort, mpg's, sound) is the available options of tires to run on them. The larger the wheel, the fewer the options there are for tire fitment. I've been noticing this more now that I'm in the search for new tires.

I would rather have 17's to drive on everyday for pretty much every reason other than looks. I prefer the 18's in how they look. I'm a person that is willing to sacrifice comfort for looks, so I will be keeping 18's on it. If I had to drive long distances or for long periods of time, I would ditch them in a heartbeat. I made a 6+ hour trip with the 18's once...I don't look forward to driving to FocusFest...

__________________FocusFest 2013: Best of ShowGateway FFW: Show Class OutstandingSeptember '13 ROTM2014 FiST-To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 10 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.

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